The Witcher season 4 kicks off with Clive Russell's Stribog recounting some of Geralt's finest – and not-so-finest – hours.. Crucially, though, some details are different when revisiting scenes such as Ciri's forest reunion and Geralt's showdown with Vilgefortz – not least of all that, this time, The White Wolf is played by Liam Hemsworth.
Far from rewriting history and overwriting the outgoing Henry Cavill, The Witcher showrunner and creator Lauren Schmidt Hissrich chanced upon the idea as a further exploration of the series' fascination with blurring the lines in storytelling.
"I had this idea really early on, and I thought there was a cool opportunity to do two things. One, we have this storytime narrator. This is something that's in the books that we love. The Witcher always comments on how important stories are… but also how storytellers change stories. We thought that was a cool way to comment on that." Hissrich reveals to GamesRadar+.
Hissrich also pointed to The Witcher's continuing habit of splitting up the found family of Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri. Instead of having them divided by the Continent, it offered up a chance to bring them together, as well as giving a potent reminder to the audience of what Geralt's happy-ever-after looks like.
"We needed the opportunity to see them together a little bit," Hissrich says. "We needed to remind the audience what this family looks like, what they're fighting for."
Hissrich adds, "We had this ability to go back, recreate some of the more iconic scenes, but also get details wrong [and] make sure it looks different. It feels like it's from a slightly different POV."
The Witcher season 4 is now streaming on Netflix as, too, is a surprise prequel Rats movie.
For more, dive into our guides on The Witcher season 4 ending and The Witcher season 5.
